The Other Plantain

—by Judith Sims

In the last issue of this newsletter you were introduced to the fruit called plantain, a crop of which there are some 40 species in the Musa genus, including bananas. But there is a small herb that grows well in compacted soil and can often be found along footpaths and roads that is also called plantain. Some 200 species of the Plantago genus are found around the world. If you have ever used psyllium seed as a fiber supplement or stool bulking agent, you have probably used the seeds of Plantago ovata, a species cultivated in India for sale to the U.S. market.

Look for Plantago major on the boulevard outside the co-op. You can see the seeds in late summer and fall. They are set on long, greenish spikes rising up from a basal rosette of leaves. Each oval leaf has three to five parallel veins, which are sinewy enough to be made into cordage. That’s one reason I don’t recommend eating them. People do batter and deep fry them, but it’s easier to let a handful of leaves wilt and dry for a day or two and then make a tea.

Why would you want to make a tea? Because it tastes better than a tincture. But tinctures can be active for years and alcohol is good at extracting medicinal compounds. Make a plaintain tincture by sterilizing a jar (15 minutes in boiling water or 20 minutes in a 200° oven), stuffing it fairly full with leaves, filling it with vodka and/or brandy, labeling it, and letting it sit someplace dark for six weeks.

There could be a second crop of plantain before winter, and if so, collecting young leaves for your tincture would be ideal. In the meantime, plantain is abundant and available to make tea, a great extraction method. And tea doesn’t sting when you put it on gauze to apply to wounds.

Plantain is a good wound-healer. One of its names is “Soldier’s Herb,” although I like the moniker “Nature’s Band-Aid.” It can be handy as a first aid treatment for little wounds or bugbites when you’re outdoors. Pick and macerate a leaf by chomping on it but not through it, starting at the tip and putting one layer of bites through to the end. Then plant it on the injured site.

Or, chomp up a leaf of plantain and put the resulting coarse pesto on the cut. The plant’s astringent qualities — drawing foreign matter out of tissue — work best if you secure an actual bandage over the plantain poultice. Additionally, plantain contains soothing mucilage, encourages quick cell growth, and is mildly anti-microbial. Of course, get professional help if you have a serious wound!

Plantain can help decongest the respiratory system. According to Welsh herbalist Chanchal Cabrera, plantain will take thick, globe-shaped mucous polysaccharides (sugar structures, loved by bacteria) and flatten them out, releasing water and sugars and resulting in some decongestion. This is helpful when you’ve got a cold. As with any herb, which will be milder than a refined pharmaceutical product, you need to take doses throughout the day to feel an effect. For example, drink three to four cups of tea per day or take one-half to one teaspoon of tincture three times per day.

Another name for plantain is “white man’s footprint,” presumably because this Old World plant colonized North America along with Europeans. But the co-op’s copy of “Fifty Years of the Herbalist Almanac” suggests that settlers put plantain leaves in their shoes to soothe and protect their feet. You can find more uses for this healer in the Herbal Almanac on the top shelf of the herbs and spices section of the co-op. It’s just a couple shelves above the powdered psyllium seed.

[Judith Sims is an an award-winning researcher and herbalist.]